Cold, Nasty, Weather

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We had an interesting week with our weather here in Northeast Ohio. Wow did it get cold...and windy...which made the cold seem much more cold than what it really was. This morning I woke up to a hard, driving rain. Outside it wasn't just rain, but ice and freezing rain. The roads were slippery and I saw three cars in ditches on our way for morning coffee.
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This year the wood I am burning in the Hardy H2 has been seasoned for 1 to 2 years. This is the first year I have used "seasoned" wood...that is, having dried out for over 1 year. Until this year I have burned wood that was cut earlier in the spring. It dried over the summer and then went into the Hardy that winter. Last year, however I had a very productive year harvesting firewood which allowed me to stash some wood for next year...which is the case THIS year in that I have a large pile of seasoned wood to burn. What I have noticed immediately is how much nicer, and hotter, the seasoned stuff burns compared to what I had fed into the Hardy in previous years. Don't let anyone tell you different about firewood...seasoned wood makes a HUGE difference in the amount of heat it gives off, and its worth to the user as a resource to heat a house.
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This current cold snap we are dealing with had tested my Hardy and my woodpile but both came thru with flying colors. Two years ago Ohio had some minus teens temperatures and my Hardy never even strained in its role of heat provider. The weather we experienced recently was low-teens temps but with 50 MPH winds. It was awful going out to feed the furnace as the wind just cut right through me. I keep reminding myself that nothing is free in life...even free heat is not free. Consider the cost of chainsaws, splitters, trucks, trailers, gas, oil, chains etc...but also consider leaving the comfort of your house to trudge out to your furnace, in a blizzard, to fill it with logs until you get to do it again before you leave to work the next morning....Who am I kidding, I loved every minute of it. God bless the Hardy H2!
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OWB